It's no coincidence that it has 115 on the side. Here is the story I wrote about the reasons behind the paint job and the picture I used to go by.
In October of 2002, Bud Granley flew the airplane to Idaho. In December of 2002, Brian Reynolds and I started talking about possible paint jobs.
I started researching paint schemes based on the following factors.
1. It had to be authentic to the FG-1D, F4U-1A, -1D model of Corsair
2. It had to be a scheme nobody else was currently using, or hadn’t used in at least 25yrs.
3. It had to be distinctive and unique
4. If possible it had to be authentic to this particular Corsair.
5. I had to get Brian to agree to it!
Originally Brian wanted to paint it tri color with the Jolly Rogers flag on the nose but I talked him out of it based on the fact that several Corsairs were painted in those colors. We also ruled out anything with a checkerboard cowling because they were pretty common on warbirds.
I tracked down the record cards for the airplane through the Navy and made a list of all the assignments that the museum’s Corsair had and looked at the paint schemes. Most of the assignments were to Naval Reserve bases all over the country. She was in Dallas, Jacksonville, RI, Seattle and one or two others. Those paint jobs just weren’t very exciting at all and had very little color. The only specific unit that we know she was in for sure was VMF-213. I started looking into their airplanes and found the scheme for the squadron when it was on the USS Saidor. I have no proof that the airplane was actually one of the Corsairs painted in those colors as we don’t have the log books from her time in the service. However, based on the record cards, I do know that she was in the squadron, in Hawaii, during that time frame so there is a chance she was painted in those colors. It’s about 50/50, either she was or she wasn’t!
I also chose this particular paint scheme because of the number “115” on the side. When our Corsair was still in Canadian markings she had that same number. I thought it would be a neat tribute to her past warbird life. An added benefit of this paint scheme was that there were models, t shirts and coffee cups in production at the time with this VMF-213 airplane on it.
I now had a paint scheme that met four of my requirements. I submitted it and two other choices to Brian and let it stew for a while. This was early in 2003 and I continued to remind him of my choice on a regular basis for the next several years.
In September of 2005, the restoration was to the point that a choice of the base color had to be made. Some painting had to be done and the dark blue/tri color debate needed to be settled. Brian decided that the basic paint scheme would be all blue. This decision defiantly ruled out a lot of other paint choices but the three I liked were still safe. When I moved back out here in April of 2012 and got put in charge of completing the airplane, I went to John Lane’s shop for my first visit. I then told Brian that a final decision needed to be made on the markings and in June of 2012 the USS Saidor markings were finally chosen. This scheme was always my original first choice and I would have been happy with any of the final three choices I had. But I’m really happy with the choice we made.
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. If it is intentional, even classier.